


show me how nothing's ever gonna stop us now

by ohprongs



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: AU, Alec is gay, Gen, M/M, Malec AU, aka the one where i mention as many websites/apps/technology terms as possible, also, anyway i Luv millenials and the selfie generation and this fic is me expressing that, i'm trash for malec, i'm trash for the lightwood siblings, like. alec is super into boys, magnus doesn't appear until like 3000 words in, teen and up rating simply for the makeout sesh in part two, this fic will be so dated in like…a month or something, vloggers au, whoops?, youtubers au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-05 23:45:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6728182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohprongs/pseuds/ohprongs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>or, the youtubers au that nobody asked for</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. a story

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and kudosing! YOU ARE ALL 1000% AMAZING  
>   
> a disclaimer: i don’t watch vloggers, nor am i active in the vlogging community. any errors are entirely my own fault (please feel free to correct me!)  
>   
> title from _carry on_ by fun. unbeta'd as usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was basically developed around the section where they discuss fanfic - that part turned out a little more meta than i intended (i feel like i’m vague-tweeting (vague-ficcing?) but honestly whatevs) - and somehow turned into a beast of a fic... whoops?

"Can you help me with something?” Isabelle asks, peeking her head around Alec's bedroom door, Mac tucked under her arm. Alec nods, scooting over on the bed to allow her space to sit down. She takes the place next to him and rests her head on his shoulder. “Don’t laugh.”

Something twinges in his chest. “Of course I won’t.” 

She nods against him and opens up the computer. He’s not quite sure what to expect - an essay draft, maybe, or an online shopping cart with a dress she’s not certain about. He’s definitely not expecting her face to stare back at him.

Behind the Izzy-on-the-screen, Alec can see the room’s been cleared and pillows have been arranged artfully on the bed. Her eyeliner is absolutely perfect. 

Isabelle hits the space bar and the video starts playing. She introduces herself, talks about why she’s making the video - standard stuff, Alec imagines, for a first try. It’s only a few minutes long.

“It’s good, right?” Isabelle says, when it’s finished playing. He glances down, and she tilts her head up to look at him. He knows she knows it’s a perfectly decent video, and she’s not made a twat of herself, and yet she’s still nibbling at her lip.

“Yeah,” he says, wishing it was more. “It’s good.”

She makes a small noise of agreement. ”I just - I think if I could talk to an actual person it might be easier. Better. And I always talk to you.”

Alec’s nose scrunches. “Iz, I don’t want to -”

“You don’t have to be in it,” she says quickly. “You can sit behind the camera. I just want you to be in the room, and then I can talk to you.”

He _ums_ and _ahs_ for a couple of minutes but really, who is he to deny his little sister anything?

∞

It takes a couple of months, but soon Isabelle’s videos start drawing hundreds of regular viewers. It helps that she’s a social media whirlwind, updating Twitter and Instagram daily. Isabelle interacts with both her fans and other YouTubers, retweeting and replying, giving shout outs, doing Q&As. She’s bright and bubbly. It helps that she’s actually _gorgeous_ \- Alec might not be into girls, and even if he was, she’s his _sister_ \- but she doesn’t let any of the creeps get away with their comments. 

One Tuesday she FaceTimes Alec to babble excitedly at him that someone on Tumblr has giffed part of one of her vlogs. A week later he sends her a screenshot of a Tumblr user with the URL _isabellelightofmylifewood_ and she doesn’t stop smiling for two days.

Their parents are less enthusiastic. Over dinner Maryse chips away with the snide comments about how Isabelle should dress more respectably in her videos; Robert looks on disapprovingly and tells his daughter that maybe she should just give up the videos, period. Alec clenches his knife and fork so hard his knuckles turn white, and it takes some gentle poking from Max, who’s asking if Alec will read with him later, to draw him out of his frustration.

Alec suggests to Isabelle that the next video she does should be about why it’s wrong to shame women for their choices. Maryse’s face twists when she brings up _that_ one over breakfast. 

Half a year later and Isabelle's updates usually get a hundred thousand views. _The_ video, the one that starts the thing, is posted on a Wednesday, and it’s entirely an accident. Alec first hears about it when he’s checking Twitter on his way to work and sees a user asking Isabelle who the guy in her latest update is. He follows the link in her Twitter bio to her channel and watches the video.

There, at 4:26. It’s him.

Isabelle’s talking about _Dance Moms_  and she makes a truly terrible joke, at which Alec snorts and says, “Your talents are wasted here, Iz. You should be on the stage.” Somehow, a cut with him talking has made it into the final edit, and his sister has uploaded it without realising. Alec feels a little bit panicky and a little bit like laughing - he's not the one who wants the limelight. That's always Isabelle’s place, and he just helps her shine.

He calms himself down and messages her. Her flurry of replies are wholly apologetic, but he tells her it’s fine. It’s not like anything big is going to come of this, so he doesn’t really mind.

∞

Somewhat depressingly, the most upvotes any comment on one of Isabelle’s videos has ever gotten is a guy asking who the speaker in her video is. Then #izzysmysteryman starts popping up all over her mentions. 

“You know, I’m kind of annoyed,” she says, scooping up a dollop of cream from his iced frappaccino, “that of all the videos I’ve ever done, the one with you speaking in it for like, a micro second, is the most popular.”

“Sorry.” Alec half-shrugs, but his smile somewhat ruins the impression. They’re sitting on a park bench in the sunshine, sharing each other’s iced coffees, carefree and weightless. He can’t find it in himself to bring the mood down.

“Also annoyed that everyone wants him to be my boyfriend.”

“Well, straight people,” is all Alec says, and Isabelle hums in agreement. 

Halfway through their coffee, she splodges some cream onto Alec’s nose and takes a picture of the two of them before he can protest. The photo is immediately Instagrammed with the caption, 'mystery man? my big brother, not my boyfriend #ewgross'. 

“Maybe you could sit in with me next time?” she says, aiming for casual and not quite pulling it off. Alec sees her doe-eyed blinks and raises her a cocked eyebrow. 

“I thought you said I could stay behind the camera?” 

Isabelle pouts for a moment, then the expression drops and her dark eyes turn serious.  “You can, if you want. I don’t want to force you. But think about it?”

It’s Alec’s turn to hum, though he’s not sure if he’s agreeing.

∞

He agrees two days later. 

It’s a bit awkward at first. Alec keeps fiddling with his fringe and poking his thumbs through the holes in his sweater, but then after a while, he forgets about the camera rolling and just has fun hanging out with his sister. He starts making regular appearances in her vlogs after that. Together they do a _Game of Thrones_ review series, where Isabelle dissects the show’s treatment of its female characters, and Alec, unimpressed, recounts how the show-runners ruined their gay characters' characterisations. They get a lot of online hate for that, but their views skyrocket.

Roping in their other brothers, Jace and Max, they start a _Keeping Up with the Kardashians_ parody series ( _Life with the Lightwoods_ , what else could it be called?) and things spiral from there. Izzy hits 200k followers on Instagram. _Alec_ hits 50k. Their Tumblr tags explode. After a few months, book deals and mockumentary presenting job offers are on the table. Then a VidCon invite falls into Isabelle's inbox and she screams so loudly Alec races into her room to throttle whoever has attacked her.

"Jesus Christ, Izzy," he says, flopping on her bed. She's bouncing and giggling and he's pretty sure she's about to cry. "I thought you were being murdered."

"Not as bad as you when you see a spider," she gets out, still thrumming with happiness. 

"Oi -" he swats at her and she swats back, capturing his hands in hers. They sit like that for a moment. "Should have left the killer to it. You're a pain in my ass." Even as he's saying it he's hugging her close, and both of them know he's a damn liar. 

"Love you too, big brother," Isabelle says, and she almost reaches out to touch the screen. "Look, Alec! Look at it. We did it.  _We_ did this."

When they tell their parents about the convention invite, Maryse's face contorts into a strange expression, and Alec is almost convinced it's a strained smile. She even pats Isabelle on the shoulder. Robert only says,

"Well, only if your brother goes to look after you."

Max is overjoyed for both of them, little hands clapping when they tell him, but his bottom lip plops into a pout and his chin wobbles when finds out that they'll be gone for a while. He cheers up impossibly fast when they promise to Skype him every night. Alec wonders idly if Isabelle ever regrets teaching their youngest brother about crocodile tears. 

∞

Jace and Clary yell happily at Alec down the phone when the list of attendees goes live on the VidCon website over the next week. Later that day, Isabelle comes into his room, dark hair streaming behind her and face alight with excitement. Alec isn’t sure what the cause of his sister’s happiness is, but he wants to find and thank it. She squeals and throws herself on his bed.

“Magnus Bane just tweeted me!” she says.

Alec blinks at her. 

“Who?”

She huffs indignantly. “He does _the best_ makeup tutorials, amongst other things. His Snapchats are hilarious. He’s pretty special.”

“Right.” Alec nods slowly. Isabelle’s been like this before - she got very excited when the YouTuber Meliorn had given her a shoutout in one of her videos, so he doesn’t quite see what she’s getting at about this Magnus in particular. “He’s a big thing?”

“One of the biggest. Zoe, Dan and Phil, Kina, Magnus, Troye. They’ve all made it, doing what we do.” 

Alec settles back against his pillows, seeing her point. “And he could help you?”

“Maybe,” says Isabelle. “This could be the first step. He was congratulating us on the invite to the con." Her lips quirk upwards. “He’s pretty cute. You should check out his videos. You might like him.”

Right. _T_ _hat_ ’s what she’s getting at.

∞

With nothing but pure intentions, Alec watches some of Magnus Bane’s videos. In the process, he learns several things:

Magnus is an amazing dancer, body flowing fluidly in time to the music like he was born for it (Alec doesn’t pay attention to the rhythm in Magnus’ hips at all). He has a penchant for doing cheesy magic tricks on people in the street, all ‘is this your card?’ with a dramatic flourish and cocksure grin. He always seems upbeat in videos, but he’s happiest when he’s co-vlogging with his friend Ragnor (that’s the first time Alec hears Magnus’ giggly laugh). When filming in his room, the colour of his bed sheets changes from video to video (in the latest vlog, they’re cobalt blue, matching his finger nails. Alec’s never paid much attention to colour, wardrobe invariably lingering at the darker end of the spectrum, but Magnus makes the assorted hues look positively radiant).

His neck and collarbones are absolutely delicious, and Alec may have needed stern words with himself after watching Magnus’ ice bucket challenge.

Honestly, Alec feels like a massive creep. It’s just that Magnus is very nice to look at. Beyond that, Alec _enjoys_ Magnus’ videos: he’s sharp, funny, excitable. 

Unattainable. 

Magnus is just a man behind a computer screen, and that’s all he’s ever going to be.

∞

The Anaheim Convention Centre is a daunting place for Alec. He's glad Isabelle's clutching his hand because he thinks he might otherwise fall over, though one glance down at her straight back and set shoulders tell him she's a little on edge too. When she looks up at him, though, her eyes are bright.

"We're here," she breathes. He allows himself to smile.

"You did it, Iz," he says. She nudges her shoulder into his.

" _We_ did it."

They wander around the floor for a while, talking to a few other vloggers. Isabelle makes a beeline for Meliorn and they start gesturing wildly to each other, which leaves Alec to shuffle awkwardly on the spot on his own for a minute, wondering if there's something going on between his sister and the guy. 

"Are you okay?"

He turns at the voice, searching for the person who spoke. A blonde woman is sitting behind a table, twirling a fountain pen between her fingers. Her hair is pulled back from her face in elaborate braids and a Creator lanyard around her neck - a fellow YouTuber.

"Yeah," he says, half believing it. "Just waiting for my sister."

The woman follows his gaze and spots Isabelle. "You're the Lightwoods?" she asks. Alec nods. 

"Nice to meet you," he says, with a light smile.

"I'm Lydia." She drops her pen and holds out her hand. Alec shakes it. "Is it your first time here?"

"Yeah. I don't really know what's going on," he confesses, and she smiles warmly. 

"Me either," she says. "I guess we can mess it up together."

Isabelle comes back over, grinning brightly at Alec. "Hi," she says, realising their conversation has paused at her arrival. "I'm Izzy." She and Lydia stare at each other for a moment, each smiling a little, and when Lydia introduces herself, Alec's fairly sure his sister is blushing. 

∞

The morning blends into afternoon in a blur of grinning fans, pens leaving ink trails as they fly across paper, smiling for so many selfies Alec's cheeks are about to burst. After four hours Alec and Isabelle take a break for lunch. They find a coffee shop - it's admittedly heaving, but it's better than nothing - and after a while squish into two seats while clutching takeaway cappuccinos and toasted paninis.

Isabelle asks how he's found the morning and he tells her it's been good around a mouthful of bread. She wrinkles her nose, giggling, and tells him not to be so disgusting. He sticks his tongue out at her. Truthfully, it has been fun, but he's worried about this afternoon. He's been invited to speak on an LGBT panel - just him, not Isabelle. He's not used to doing this without her.

"Try and forget about everyone else. Just imagine you're talking to me," she says. Her asking this of him almost a year ago now is how the whole thing started, and for a moment he's struck by how they've come full circle. He squeezes her hand. 

When they finish eating, they sit at the table for a little longer, each sipping coffee. After a moment Lydia appears in the doorway of the shop, and Isabelle waves her over. Alec stands to let her take his seat, brushing away her protestations.

"I've got to go, anyway," he says. Isabelle gives him one of her radiant smiles. 

"Good luck, big brother. You'll be amazing."

He smiles, sort of, and makes his way out of the coffee shop. It's not the fact that it's a panel so much - he's never found speaking in front of big groups of people to be a massive problem, happy to be a leader of sorts. It's the topic of the panel that's making his stomach churn. 

Alec knows he's gay - has accepted it, is happy with it. It's who he is. He told Isabelle years ago. Telling Jace was harder, only because Alec was teetering on the edge of being over him, but he wasn't quite there yet (that conversation came later, and now their relationship is stronger than ever), but it was okay. Max just blinked when Alec came home with Raj one day. When he told Alec Raj couldn't be his boyfriend, Alec's breath had stopped, scared and hurt and angry that his parents had managed to poison his little brother already. But then Max reasoned that someone who didn't like manga wasn't good enough for his brother, and Alec's breath returned on a huffed laugh. Maryse came around after a while, even mentioning on the odd occasion the son of a friend, who might be a good prospect for Alec. Robert is the only one who ignores it, and so Alec ignores him as much as he can. 

He's never done a Coming Out video or anything like that - for a start, it's Isabelle's YouTube channel. But that aside, he doesn't think it's what he wants. He doesn't hide it, and anyone who watches the videos even a little bit closely would have picked up on his mentions of attractive boys or an ex boyfriend or how he rants with Isabelle about the portrayal of LGBT characters in the media. He's not ashamed. But he is nervous about talking about it in front of a load of people. Which is weird. Because he knows that the other people on the panel will be like him, and he hopes all the fans in the room will be supportive. It's just - talking about something so personal in front of so many people is not quite something he's used to. 

Walking over to Hall B, Alec breathes deeply. It will be fine. He just has to think of talking to Isabelle and everything will be fine.

He's so lost in thought he almost crashes into someone walking just ahead of him.

"Sorry, sorry," he says, glancing down. The man's wearing sinfully tight black pants and a dark purple shirt, and when he turns around Alec notices the plunging neckline shows off inches of mouthwatering skin. 

“That's quite alright, it was my fault."

Alec freezes. He knows that voice. He drags his eyes up to look at the man's face (God, he's _such_ a creep, ogling the man's body like that) and momentarily forgets to how to breathe.

"I’m Magnus," says Magnus Bane. His eyes are rimmed with khol and silver glitter, and his dark hair has lilac tips. "I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced.”

Alec restarts his brain and smiles widely, hoping it’s a _normal_ smile and not that ridiculous lopsided thing that his mouth sometimes does all on its own. 

“Alec,” he manages to get out. “We - uh - I need - you - uh -” He realises belatedly that all he’s said to Magnus so far is that his name is Alec and that he needs him. Mortified doesn’t even begin to cover it.

To his relief, Magnus seems sympathetic.

“Are you going to a panel?” he asks. There’s a smile playing around his lips. 

“Yeah,” says Alec, seizing this gratefully. “A _panel_. I should go to that. Because they’re probably waiting. Are they waiting? I don’t really know how these things work.”

They start walking in a comfortable silence.

“Which one are you going to?” Magnus asks a moment later, and Alec tenses a little. It’s a perfectly reasonable question, given their previous topic of conversation - though could you really call Alec’s flustered mumblings conversation? He doubts it.

He makes a little _hm_ noise. Gaze fixed resolutely ahead, Alec says, “The, uh - the LGBT one.” 

“Oh,” is all Magnus says, and Alec chances a glance to the side. Magnus is still smiling. “Me too.” 

∞

Alec doesn’t see Magnus at all over the rest of the weekend and he feels strangely disappointed. Isabelle picks up on Alec’s mood almost immediately, but she doesn’t doesn’t say anything about it until they’re eating dinner in the airport on Sunday evening, waiting for their flight home.

“What’s up, big bro?” 

Alec immediately deflects. “Nothing, I’m fine. Was the con everything you wanted it to be?”

Isabelle rolls her eyes rather spectacularly. “Yeah, it was great, but don’t dodge the question, Alec.”

Alec pokes the half-eaten burger in front of him. He doesn’t know why it’s such a big deal to him - he’s literally had one conversation with the guy, and yeah, alright, maybe he likes Magnus Bane a little bit, but he doesn’t actually _know_ him. Maybe Magnus had laughed at Alec’s jokes while they were at the LGBT panel, and maybe he’d started following @aleclightwood on Twitter, but that didn’t mean anything. Professional courtesy. They were practically in competition, after all.

“I’m fine,” he repeats, a little harsher than usual. Something flickers in Isabelle’s eyes and he sighs. Pushing the food carton away from him, he folds his arms on the table and rests his head on them.

“Don’t laugh,” he says, voice muffled by his arms. He can’t see Isabelle’s expression, but hopes she’s taking this seriously. “I - well. Um. Do you think Magnus is nice?”

Giggles float across to him and he realises she is most definitely not taking this seriously.

“You know I do,” she says, laughing, “though clearly not as _nice_ as you do.” 

Alec raises his head to glare at her. “Thanks for the support, _Isabelle_.” He’s opening his mouth to complain more when his phone dings. There’s a notification from Twitter on his home screen and - that looks like -

It is.

Message from @magnusbane: _alec - it’s magnus, we met the other day at_

Alec ignores Isabelle asking who it is and taps onto the notification so he can read the whole thing. Message from @magnusbane:  _alec - it’s magnus, we met the other day at the convention. sorry to dm you, but i didn’t get a chance to get your number. it was nice talking to you - i wondered if you wanted to get a coffee or something?_

“Are you having a heart attack?”

Alec looks up at Isabelle, back at his phone, up at her again and then blinks. “No, I -” He can’t stop the smile spreading slowly over his face. “Nothing. It’s - I’m fine. I’m fine.” She seems to believe him this time. 

He replies immediately, telling Magnus that sounds fun, and when did he want to go? After he’s pressed send he realises maybe he should have waited a couple of minutes, played hard to get or something, but then a happy response comes back from the other man. 

“See, this is why I say you never talk to me,” wheedles Isabelle, and this time Alec rolls his eyes.

“I talk to you.”

Isabelle kicks him under the table. “Sure. What’s the _nice_ Mr Bane done, then?”

Alec is faintly alarmed at how well Isabelle can read him.

∞

The next day Isabelle makes a YouTubers group chat on Whatsapp for Magnus, Alec, Lydia and herself called _gayer than originally intended_ , and Alec almost chokes on his cereal.

∞

With Magnus' hectic schedule it’s a few weeks before they're both in the same city and have enough time to go for coffee. Eventually they settle on a Thursday afternoon when they're free, and that's how Alec finds himself nervously inspecting his reflection in the hallway mirror as he slips into his black Converse. He’s wearing a dark grey button down and black jeans, and Isabelle grins at him from the kitchen doorway.

“Very suave. Have fun on your date.”

“It’s not a date, Iz,” he tells her, yet again. “It’s -”

“Just coffee.” She arches an eyebrow. “Okay. Whatever you say.”

∞

Java Jones looks quiet from where Alec stands peering in through the window, waiting for Magnus to arrive. He hadn't wanted to disappoint Magnus - even though they're justfriends, it's not a date,  _it's not a_ _date_ , you could worry about letting your  _friends_ down- by being late, so he'd arrived about five minutes before they'd planned to meet. Rather than shuffling his feet awkwardly with his hands in his pockets while he waits he decides to check his phone, and sees he has a Snapchat from Clary. There's also a new Snapchat story from Magnus, and he watches the various videos: Chairman Meow reaching out a paw and holding Magnus' hand, Magnus putting on eyeshadow, a selfie of the man looking like he's on his way out the door. 

It's just possible Alec may like Magnus a little more than planned.

He glances up from his phone and starts, seeing the man on the screen right in front of him.

"Magnus!" Alec clears his throat, hastily shoving his phone into his pocket. "Hi. You're here."

"Sorry I'm late," says Magnus, by way of greeting. "You look lovely."

"Oh, no, I was - it was me. I'm early." Alec realises what Magnus had followed up with and smiles a bit. "Thanks? You too. I mean. You also look - very nice." 

It's true. Magnus is wearing a pair of scarlet pants that on anyone else would look heinous, but that he manages to pull off, with a simple white shirt and a black biker jacket over the top. A couple of silver rings glint on his fingers and Alec notices Magnus wears a snake ear cuff. 

Platonic friends always compliment each other's looks, right? Alec manages to convince himself of this as he follows Magnus into the coffee shop. It's not a date.

They both order at the counter and Alec refuses to let Magnus pay for his coffee as well. He leads them over to a booth a little way back from the window, and Magnus takes his jacket off before sitting down. Alec does not stare at the sliver of tan skin the movement displays. 

Truthfully, Alec is a little bit nervous. He's done the boyfriend thing before with Raj, but they'd been friends through high school and had just kind of fallen into each other. He's not quite got the hang of the dating scene yet, and for fear of saying something that mortally offends Magnus and sends him running, Alec decides to say nothing at all. Not that they're on the dating scene together, because it's not a date. Thankfully, Magnus seems to have no such qualms and launches into a story about a hilariously awkward fan encounter that he'd had, which has Alec laughing loudly. After that, the conversation seems to flow a little easier - Magnus asks about how Alec and Isabelle got into vlogging, and then about Jace and Max, and Alec is more than happy to talk about his siblings. They stumble a little when Alec asks after Magnus' own family.

"That's one for when we know each other better," he says, firmly shutting Alec down, but there's an undeniable warmth in his tone and it's full of so much promise Alec almost starts to ache. 

"Okay," Alec agrees. 

"Tell me something about yourself," Magnus offers, and the shift of conversational trajectory is abrupt but not unwelcome. 

"Um." Alec thinks for a minute. "I love archery," he says. "When I'm not working or filming with Izzy I'm usually down at the range."

Magnus smiles. "Hm. Putting those shoulders to good use," he says, and Alec feels his face heat up. He stares down at his coffee, more than a little pleased. It's still not a date.

"Your turn," he mumbles, turning the attention back to Magnus. 

"I was in a band once," the other says. "It was a sham glam, jangle sleaze type of thing."

Alec blinks. "Are those even real words?"

"Stop," Magnus says, eyes smiling. "I happen to think I can play the guitar very well, but there may have been an... incident. And the others didn't share the same view as me regarding my playing, so I got kicked out."

"Oh. Sorry," Alec says, wrinkling his nose. 

"It's fine," says Magnus breezily. "We're still friends. In fact, I never let Ragnor forget about it."

"You do videos with Ragnor," Alec blurts out, and immediately wishes he could take it back. Of course Magnus knows this - he's the one  _in_ the videos. And now he knows Alec has been stalking his YouTube channel. 

Magnus nods, smiling. "Yeah. We haven't in a while, actually. I must call him soon - thank you for reminding me." He doesn't seem to think it's weird that Alec has watched his vlogs; on the contrary, he's giving Alec an almost unbearably sweet smile, like he's both a little bit proud and pleased that Alec has taken the time to learn about him. Alec watches Magnus watching him and realises in no uncertain terms that his virtual reality crush is skipping happily into actual reality, his heart thudding along in its wake.

∞

Alec leans against the front door to shut it and tips his head back against the wood. Once he's managed to stop his thoughts drifting to Magnus five times in a row (he's composed, that means he's _composed_ ), he wanders into the living room. Jace, Isabelle and Max are lying on the couch together clutching bowls of popcorn and  _The Lion King_  is playing on the TV. 

“Okay, so I may have a problem,” Alec says without preamble. He pushes Isabelle's legs out the way and flops down on the couch, then pulls her feet onto his lap. Jace raises an eyebrow.

“Just one?” he asks.

Alec tosses the remote control at him and gets a face-full of popcorn in response. 

"What's the problem?" says Max, his head nuzzling into Jace's chest like a cat. "I'm good at solving problems."

Alec half laughs. "Okay, Maxy." He tries to calm the butterflies in his stomach. "I have a crush on Magnus."

Isabelle groans and says something like  _finally_ , and Jace grins at him. Max surveys Alec for a moment, then says, "Who's Magnus?"

"A YouTuber," replies Alec. 

"A sexy, sexy YouTuber," adds Isabelle, and Alec dumps all the popcorn over her head.

∞

Alec's on the subway when his phone bleeps with a Whatsapp message from his sister. The only thing she's sent him is a link to website. He opens and finds himself on Magnus’ Vine page. He plays the video. Magnus is lying in bed, just woken up, yawning adorably, when Tom Jones’ _It’s Not Unusual_ starts playing; his eyes pop open and his head flicks backwards and forwards in time to the beat. He’s messy haired and soft faced and Alec can’t believe how beautiful this man is.

Then another message comes through, a load of question marks. Alec writes, _What did u expect, eggplant and water spray emojis?_

Isabelle replies with laughing face emojis and Alec grins.

∞

“No, she’s an awful cook,” Alec tells Magnus seriously. He holds a prawn between his chopsticks and then shoves it in his mouth. The four of them - Magnus, Alec, Isabelle and Lydia - are sitting in the Lightwoods' hotel room eating take out. They've got to be up early tomorrow for a fan meet and greet, but both the food and company are too good for Alec to worry about waking up tomorrow.

Magnus chews his noodles thoughtfully.  “I refuse to believe that. Your sister is excellent in every way.”

Alec’s lips twitch. “ _Almost_ every way.”

Isabelle plonks down on the bed next to him. “What are you saying about me?” she asks. Magnus and Alec just smile innocently at her, so she turns to Lydia appealingly. 

Lydia hides her grin in her drink. “Nothing that isn’t true.”

Alec nearly cries with laughter.

∞

“Hey, guys!” They're sitting in the film room in Magnus' loft, Magnus, Isabelle and Alec, crammed into the little room with not much space between them. Not that Alec minds, exactly, that his shoulder and hip and thigh are pressed against Magnus'. There's something thrilling in the touch. Magnus is grinning down the camera and, snorting, swats Isabelle as she yells _hi Baners!_ “I’m here with the delightful Izzy and Alec Lightwood. We’re gonna try something new today -”

“Well, _I’m_ gonna be trying something new,” Alec interjects, still not entirely sure how they talked him into this, though he keeps his expression netural, playful, for the camera. Magnus winks at him. 

“Izzy and I are going to cook for Alexander,” Magnus explains, and there’s got to be an open window in the room because a shiver goes down Alec’s spine. 

They do a couple more takes, switching up what their introductions. Once they’re happy, Alec is confined to Magnus’ bedroom while Izzy and Magnus cook up some truly horrible dishes to subject him to. He can hear them laughing in the kitchen and it makes his heart lift.

Alec potters about Magnus’ room, ending up perched on the windowsill, staring out over Brooklyn. He doesn’t want to sit on the bed - something about that feels weirdly intimate to Alec, even though Magnus isn’t in the room. He picked over the bottles and brushes on Magnus’ vanity table for a while, intrigued by the various palettes of eyeshadow and kohl sticks, but in the end, he decided he’d rather watch Magnus use them than play with them himself. He doesn’t know what to make of that. 

There’s something poetic about him being in Magnus’ bedroom while the man himself is with Alec’s sister. Not that they’re like _that_. Isabelle’s convinced Magnus feels something like Alec feels for him, and has told Alec as much (though not in those exact words), and Alec is sure Magnus recognises whatever is going on between Isabelle and Lydia, even if the girls aren’t quite acknowledging it yet. 

“Alexander?” Magnus pokes his head around his own bedroom door. God, he has _got_ to stop calling Alec that. It - it does things to Alec. Alec looks over and spots a smudge of flour on Magnus’ cheek. “You can come out now.”

Alec bites his lip to stop the requisite closet joke tumbling out. Magnus opens the door fully, but stays in the doorway, meaning Alec has to brush past him to leave. 

It’s almost an accident.

∞

They've reached the fourth vlog in this series, and Alec has to down two glasses of water in between testing meals. So far, Isabelle is leading the Most Adventurous (four points to three), but Magnus is streaking ahead in the Most Edible (six to two). They’re tied on Most Pretty, and unfortunately Isabelle’s winning the Most (Almost) Fatal with one point. 

Magnus rubs Alec’s shoulder. The dish in front of him actually looks pretty normal, a kind of floating vegetable soupy thing. Alec isn’t sure who cooked it - that’s never revealed until after the judging - but when he slurps a spoon and finds a pleasant taste with a spicy kick at the end, he’s fairly sure it’s not his sister who concocted the meal. 

“It’s actually pretty good,” Alec says, and Magnus raises an offended eyebrow. 

“ _Pretty_ good?”

“Hey!” Isabelle protests. “You’re not supposed to do anything that might tell him who made it.”

Magnus turns to her. “Darling, the fact that he hasn’t died from eating it is proof enough.”

Isabelle whacks a smirking Magnus with an oven mitt.

Later that afternoon, Isabelle gets a call from Clary, who invites her shopping. Alec notices his sister’s gaze flits between where he and Magnus sit on the couch, angled towards each other but not quite touching. She doesn’t take long to agree, and leaves Magnus’ loft a few minutes later. 

Alec rolls his eyes. Subtle isn’t Isabelle’s strong point. 

∞

Alec ends up staying late into the evening. Even though he’d eaten earlier, Magnus and Isabelle’s creations weren’t particularly filling, and Magnus hasn’t yet had dinner. They call out for pizza and eat siting at the high counter in Magnus’ kitchen. Soft music plays from the lounge and Alec is fairly sure he’s imagining the dim, almost romantic, lighting. Magnus probably just needs to buy new lightbulbs. 

The silence between them is comfortable, broken only by the shuffling of pizza slices around their box and hungry chewing. 

“Can I talk to you about something?” Alec asks when they’ve finished.

Magnus meets his gaze. “Of course.” 

Alec fiddles with the plastic pot of garlic and herb dip while he speaks. “I know fandom can be a bit over the top sometimes,” he starts. “I can deal with that - you know, the tweets and YouTube and Instagram comments and stuff. I can do that most of the time. I get it. I guess it’s kinda what we signed up for.” Magnus nibbles on a curve of pizza crust while he watches Alec. “But there’s a line, right? I - these people, they write stories about me!”

“Fan fiction,” Magnus supplies. Alec nods. It’s been on his mind for a few days now, and only now does he let himself express how bothered by it he is.

“Yeah. That. I mean - I don’t know. I guess some of it’s alright. Like, I saw one the other day that was like, ‘Alec Lightwood at Hogwarts’ or something, which - childhood dream, right?”

Magnus smiles, but doesn’t say anything, allowing Alec to continue. 

“And then there’s the ones where I’m just hanging out with my friends or whatever. That’s kinda nice. But the relationship ones are…creepy. They’re creepy. You know some are about me and you?” Alec didn’t mean to say that last point, but it’s out there now, and he’s able to take it back as much as he’s able to stop the blush that he knows is painting his cheeks. “That’s bad enough,” he powers on. “I mean - not - it’s not bad because it’s you. ‘Cause you’re - yeah. But we’re not -”

He’s stumbling now, off topic and thinking about all the things that Magnus is. Magnus’ fingers brush his arm for a second.

“I know what you mean. Carry on.”

Alec avoids Magnus’ eyes, but he does continue speaking. 

“So there’s those ones. And then there are the ones about _Lydia_ and me. People actually write stories where I’m dating her. She - you know, she’s great. We’re really good friends, but I - I’m gay! I like boys. I like kissing boys and -” Alec blinks. “Maybe the title of my next vlog should be ‘Alec Lightwood is gay’.”

Magnus smiles again. 

“It makes me so uncomfortable,” Alec admits, staring at his fingernails. “Like, I don’t know what’s going on between Izzy and Lydia. I don’t even know if they know. But these people, the ones who write these stories, are just completely ignoring who we are. Who I am. Making me into whatever they want me to be. And what they want me to be is straight.” He looks at Magnus, searching for understanding. Magnus is nodding at him.

“You’re completely right,” is all Magnus says for a while. “They’re erasing your sexuality - I can see why that hurts you.” There’s another pause, and then Magnus says quietly, “thank you for trusting me enough to talk about this with me.”

Alec meets Magnus’ gaze and smiles. “You’re easy to talk to,” he admits. He loses himself in the deep brown of Magnus’ eyes for a moment before blinking back to reality and realising Magnus is talking.

“- found it a bit weird. The comments and tweets can get very invasive at times.” Magnus half-shrugs before standing and gathering the pizza boxes. He stacks them on the side. “It’s like you said - I guess some of it is what we signed up for. But it _is_ a bit much at times.”

They're silent for a while, apartment filled with only the music that's still playing in the other room. Alec feels lighter now that he's got that off his chest, and he stands up too, clearing their glasses to the counter and turning the tap on. He waves away Magnus' protestations and begins to wash them; it's the least he can do. Magnus gives up trying to stop him.

"Do you want to know a secret?" Magnus asks while Alec rinses the suds off the glasses. Alec nods. "It's a little embarrassing." Though really, Magnus is voluntarily offering to spill whatever it is to Alec, so how embarrassing can it be? The man seems shameless most of the time, but Alec plays along anyway.

"Well, I definitely want to hear it now."

Magnus hums, low and soft, and Alec's heart sort of flip-flops in his chest. 

"You remember when we met, at VidCon?" Magnus says.  "I said to you that we hadn't been formally introduced. But I did sort of know you. I'd watched your videos with Izzy, and I knew who you were even before you introduced yourself."

Alec dries the glasses and puts them away, not dwelling on the fact that somehow, somewhen, he's learnt the layout of Magnus' kitchen, or that _Magnus Bane had watched Alec's vlogs before they'd even met_ -

He feels like happy-yelling, but he tries to compose himself.

"That's a shit secret." Alec turns to Magnus, a smile on his lips, and adds, "no offence." Magnus raises an eyebrow, amusement written on his features. "I kind of figured you knew who I was. Izzy told me you'd tweeted her to congratulate  _us_ on our VidCon invite - her _and_ me." He shrugs. 

Magnus only smiles at that. He gestures to the living room, and Alec takes a seat on the couch. Magnus dances around the bar in his lounge, and eventually hands Alec a light blue cocktail with a sparkly gold umbrella sticking out of it. Magnus joins him on the couch. Alec winces as he takes a sip of the drink, and Magnus makes that humming noise again. He should really stop with his everything. The second and third sips are nicer, more mellow and fruity, and Alec relaxes. 

They stay up talking until gone midnight. Alec can feel his eyes drooping and he tries to stifle three yawns before Magnus, rolling his eyes, tells him to let it out. 

"You can stay, if you want," says Magnus, fiddling with his ear cuff. "On the sofa, of course." Alec nods, too tired to even think about going home, and Magnus pats his leg. "I'll get you some blankets." 

He's also pretty content to stay in Magnus' loft because it's Magnus' loft, not just because he can't be bothered to take the subway and stumble into his own bed. He's a little bit tipsy and kind of sleepy, and a wonderful guy is offering his apartment for Alec to sleep in. Why would he say no?

Alec stretches out on the couch, creating a pillow with his arms, and closes his eyes. He hears Magnus return, and then something soft is draped over him, tickling his nose.

"Whoops," says Magnus mildly. He strokes the blanket back from Alec's face, and Alec sighs happily. 

"You're so  _lovely_ , Magnus," he says earnestly, managing to prise his eyes open and meet Magnus' gaze. "I watched you too. I knew you too." Alec's vaguely aware that in the morning, he's going to want to fling himself into the sun, but now he can't stop the honest words from dancing off his tongue. Maybe he's a little more drunk than he thought. "Your videos. I watched them. _You_ should get points for being Most Pretty. Your nail polish  _matched_." He runs out of things to say and snuggles into the pillow Magnus brought for him. The last thing he recognises before drifting off to sleep is the feather-light touch of fingers against his cheek.

∞

Alec wakes feeling mostly refreshed and blinks his eyes open slowly, feeling warm in the glow of sunlight shining in through his bedroom window. Feeling something perched on his chest, he wonders whether Church has escaped from Max’s room where he sleeps, but even one sleepy look at the cat perched on him tells him it’s not the Russian blue. He bolts upright, cat darting off of him, and Alec recognises that he’s in Magnus’ loft.

He stayed the night _at Magnus’ apartment_.

Alec whispers an apology to the Chairman, who’s stalking off into the kitchen, and looks around. There are still two cocktail glasses on the table and as Alec stares at them, the events of the previous night rush back to him with shocking clarity.

Oh God.

He’d told Magnus -

 _Oh_ _God._

He scribbles an apology note on the back of an envelope lying around Magnus’ apartment and leaves, hoping to make it back home before anyone notices he’s gone. While waiting to cross the road he half debates throwing himself in front of a bus to avoid the embarrassment of having to face Magnus again (“You should get points for being Most Pretty”, what was he _thinking_?).

Alec manages to make it back without dying of mortification, but he’s so lost in thought he doesn’t notice Isabelle coming down the stairs in her dressing gown. 

“Morning, Alec,” she says, and then she looks at him properly, and sees his boots and jacket and that he’s still in the same clothes as yesterday. A devilish smile tilts her lips, but she seems to bite back a comment. “Did you sleep at Magnus’?”

Alec tries to smooth his hair down. “Didn’t do much sleeping,” is what falls out of his mouth, and then he realises how that sounds and immediately regrets the day he was born. “I mean - we - nothing happened! Magnus made cocktails and we stayed up talking, went to bed late. That’s it.”

Isabelle just smiles at him.

∞

Alec doesn't hear from Magnus for a couple of days, although he does see that @magnusbane has tweeted some...rather soppy things that he supposes could indirectly relate to him. In any case, he's almost glad for the radio silence - he doesn't know how to talk to Magnus after basically admitting he'd cyberstalked the guy and maybe sort of drunkenly come on to him.

It's not a situation Alec finds himself in often, and his siblings have been no help. Jace tells him to just kiss Magnus and get it over with, and Isabelle agrees. Max offers to talk to Magnus for him, but the only thing Alec is one hundred percent certain of in this situation is that letting his nine-year-old brother talk to the object of Alec's affections is not a good idea. It's Clary who suggests that they should have another YouTubers night with Lydia and Magnus, and that then Alec could gauge the tension between them and create an opportunity to talk to Magnus alone if he wanted to.

Both Lydia and Magnus agree to come round the following Friday when Alec asks, and he glances at his phone, wondering if it's really a good idea. What if Magnus hates him for what he'd admitted, or for running out the following morning? At least he'd had the decency to write a note.

The day itself arrives far too quickly for Alec's liking. Magnus rings their doorbell a little before seven, and after a frantic game of scissors-paper-stone Isabelle is sent to answer it.

Alec looks up when he hears someone walking into the living room; Magnus is unaccompanied, and Alec's eyebrows crinkle together.

"Lydia rang while Izzy was letting me in," Magnus explains. "She asked Izzy to meet her at the subway station. Also, hello."

Alec nods. "Hi." He looks around the room, very aware of Magnus watching him. "Did you want anything to drink?"

"I'm fine at the moment, thank you," says Magnus. He takes a seat on the couch near Alec, further away than he usually does when they sit together. Alec's stomach clenches and he sees with sudden clarity that he's well and truly messed this up. "Did you get home okay, after the other night?"

They've arrived at this topic of conversation already, and Alec blinks a few times for something to do. "Yeah," he says eventually. "Thanks for letting me stay."

"Quite alright," says Magnus. "You were very sweet, but very out of it."

Sweet?

Alec's head jerks up and he turns to Magnus. "No I wasn't. I was weird. I -" he ducks his head, playing at the thread of his sweater. "I meant to apologise."

"What for? You were most complimentary." Magnus is smiling at him when Alec looks up, something in his eyes Alec can't quite decipher. "I'm the one who should apologise. I neglected to tell you that  _you_ should win points for being Most Pretty, too."

Alec glances away, then back at Magnus, and he can't stop his gaze from flickering down to the other's lips. "Um. What?"

"I like you, Alec," Magnus says simply, and the words are sure but Magnus' confidence falters a little when Alec doesn't respond. "I...thought you might feel what I feel." He sweeps his hands into his lap and looks down. "I apologise if I've offended you."

"No," Alec says, a little too loudly. "No, you haven't offended me. I - um. I do. Feel what you feel. I mean. I like you - too. Um."

Alec swears up and down that Magnus' smile could light the entirety of New York City, and what else could he do with Magnus looking at him like that other than lean in so close he could kiss him? Magnus' breath ghosts over his lips and Alec searches Magnus' eyes for a sign that this is okay, this is what Magnus  _wants._  Magnus reaches up to cup Alec's jaw, and Alec presses his lips against Magnus', warm and gentle, and as they kiss he realises what Isabelle means by  _finally_.

∞

The next day, Magnus tweets a selfie of the two of them smiling, holding hands, with the caption 'Tru Luv™', and it quickly becomes one of his most liked and retweeted photos ever. Alec buries his face in Magnus' neck, licking along his collarbone.

"You're such a sap," he teases.

"You took the picture, darling," Magnus reminds him, and Alec can't think of a good response to that, so he just kisses Magnus instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> magnus' vine inspiration can be viewed [here](https://vine.co/v/MwIlKKaxUQU).


	2. an epilogue of sorts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> credit to [this post](http://alecgaywoods.tumblr.com/post/143740245289/simon-lewis-simon-lewis-ok-but-magnus-is-a) for the inspiration (i say 'inspiration' - i shamelessly copied)

They’re curled up in each other on the couch watching reruns of _Project Runway_ when Magnus suggests it.

“Do you wanna do my make up?”

Alec nuzzles into Magnus’ chest. “What for?”

Magnus’ fingers are trailing along the sliver of skin above the waistband of Alec’s pants, igniting sparks with just the barest touch. “Do it for the Vine,” he teases.

Alec snorts. “I’ve seen how long it takes you to get ready in the morning. A Vine is nowhere near long enough.”

They fall into silence after that. Alec wraps his arms tighter around his boyfriend; Magnus makes an extremely comfortable pillow, even if Alec’s feet have to hang over the arm of the couch so he can lie with his head on Magnus’ chest.

“It’s this thing that’s been going around,” mumbles Magnus after a while. “You get your boyfriend to do your makeup and film it.”

Alec’s warm and content where he is, and doesn’t think too much about the reply that slips out. “Okay.”

∞

Why the hell had he agreed to this?

Set up in the guest room in Magnus’ loft where all videos are filmed, the two of them sit opposite each other. Between them is a table, laid with various bottles of gloop, circles of powder, seven eyeshadow palettes, eyeliner pencils, blush and bronzer, lip colours and more brushes and sponges than Alec can count.

“Um,” he says, swallowing. “Okay.”

Magnus is smiling at him, but he tries to hide it behind ringed fingers. “Okay?”

“Yeah.” Alec picks up a skinny brush with small bristles and inspects it. “So, we start with the…”

“Base,” Magnus fills in.

“Base,” Alec says immediately, nodding. “And the base is the - um.” Magnus pushes a collection of bottles towards Alec and taps his cheek. Alec pulls his phone out and taps on Notes, where he’d made a list of what he needed to do. He was taking this shit seriously. A number of _Cosmo_ articles and YouTube tutorials later, he was versed in the language of make up, but not yet completely fluent. “The skin! Skin. Base. Okay.”

He looks over the bottles until he finds one labelled ‘primer’ and takes off the cap, squeezing a little bit into his palm. Magnus makes a small noise. Alec glances up to see his boyfriend biting back a laugh and glares at him. He dots his finger into the gel and smooths it onto Magnus’ cheeks, then his forehead and nose. He rubs it all in and then sits back, satisfied.

“There.” He checks his list again, realising how much he has to do. And it all has to be perfect, because this is for Magnus. “Shit. Right. Foundation.”

Magnus is watching him in amusement, but holds out a bottle to Alec. “This one’s a pretty good match.”

Magnus recites the brand and shade for the camera while Alec takes the bottle and carefully selects the brush that matches the description he’d noted down. Then he dollops some foundation in his hand and presses the brush into it. He starts to brush it onto Magnus’ face, feeling a bit ridiculous at the fact that he's practically painting his boyfriend. Alec can’t help laughing, and that makes Magnus laugh, and then Alec complains at him for messing up his meticulous strokes. He makes sure to blend the foundation into Magnus’ neck (thank you, Isabelle), leaning back to admire his handiwork.

“Lovely, darling,” Magnus says. “Are you contouring?”

Alec’s stomach plummets. “What?” He’d read about contouring but thought it was a little ambitious for him to attempt - didn’t realise Magnus would want him to do that. Shit. Now Magnus is sitting back in his chair, explaining what contouring is, and Alec can’t quite read Magnus’ expression.

“No, I - um, I know what it is. I just - I don’t -” Alec splutters.

“Alexander - hey, angel, it’s fine.” Magnus reaches over to pause the camera and takes Alec’s hands in his. “It’s okay. I was just wondering.”

Alec lets himself breathe out a little bit. “Sorry. I just - I wanted to do everything right.”

Magnus squeezes his hand. “It’s going great.” He smiles warmly at Alec, who blushes, feeling like he might have overreacted. He just hates failing people. “Okay?”

Alec nods. “Yeah.” He switches the camera back on and picks up a palette with dark brown and black shades. There’s an angled brush lying on the table and he fills it with colour, then leans in close to Magnus and works it along the top of his eyebrow. Magnus talks to the camera while Alec does this, but Alec doesn’t pay it any attention, fully concentrating on creating the shape of Magnus’ brows.

When he leans back to check them, his own eyebrows rise and he bites his lip. Magnus snatches a mirror from beside him.

“No, don’t -”

Magnus lets out a spluttery laugh as he inspects his face. “Well, it’s a good job thick eyebrows are in this year,” he teases, and Alec rolls his eyes. His stomach clenches tightly - he knows it’s only a joke and that this doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it matters to Magnus and Alec _just can’t do it right_.

He tries to push that thought to the back of his mind and looks back at the table. He decides to move on from eyebrows to eyeshadow, and is pouring over the many different glittery discs in front of him when Magnus’ fingers nudge at his chin. Alec looks up and Magnus leans in to kiss him, but he’s laughing at him and it’s messy. Alec pulls back in confusion.

“Magnus?”

“Come here,” says Magnus, looking at Alec fondly, and suddenly it strikes Alec that Magnus isn’t angry that Alec can’t do his make up, he’s _endeared_ , and Alec's heart skips several beats. Alec can’t say no to Magnus when he's watching him like that, so he kisses his boyfriend back. He pushes the table between them out of the way and scoots closer, finding much better things to do with his hands than move furniture. Alec’s fingers chase under the hem of Magnus’ shirt and search his warm skin. Magnus tugs at Alec’s hair, tilting his head and drawing him even closer.

Alec licks into Magnus’ mouth and Magnus lets out a soft groan. Alec’s losing track of how long they’ve been kissing for - he’ll never get over the feeling, and wants it to last forever. When Magnus trails his lips down Alec’s throat and sucks lightly on his pulse point, Alec scrunches Magnus’ shirt in his fists. Overcome, his hands scrabble for the snap of Magnus’ pants and he tugs the zipper down. Magnus hisses against his neck and scrapes his teeth over Alec’s collarbone.

Alec’s finally got his hand inside Magnus’ boxers when he hears the faint beeping noise. Magnus is pressing open-mouthed kisses along the line of his throat and Alec groans, but manages to pull away the tiniest bit.

“What’s that?” he asks, a little breathless, remembering to politely remove his hand from Magnus’ boxers.

“Doesn’t - matter -” Magnus mumbles between kisses, “not - im - por - tant.”

Alec leans forward to catch Magnus’ lips again but this time Magnus is pulling back, newly heavy eyebrows knitted together. Alec laughs - it’s not a giggle, it’s _not_ \- at the sight.

“Shit, it’s the camera dying. Sorry, darling.”

The camera. Alec’s breath hitches and he glances towards the thing. The red light is flashing. Magnus leans over to fiddle with the camera and then reaches for the charging lead that’s curled on the floor. It’s been filming this whole time -

He can’t decide if that’s a little tiny bit hot or very disturbing.

“I’ll delete it,” Magnus says immediately, looking at Alec’s expression. “I promise. Before it gets in the Cloud or anything. Don't worry.”

Alec nods, trusting Magnus entirely. "Okay. Thanks. That's - yeah. That's probably best."

Magnus appraises him for a moment. "If you think that's something you might like to do, we could always try it. But not like this. And definitely not on my vlogging camera. That's just asking for trouble." Alec nibbles on his lip, partly worried about and partly in awe at how well Magnus can read him. "Alexander?"

He nods again, more certain this time. "Yeah, that's what I would like. For you to delete it, I mean. But maybe one day we could - or something."

Magnus just smiles at him, and Alec can't help smiling back.

"So, are you going to do my eyeshadow or not?"

**Author's Note:**

> come and scream about these children with me on [tumblr](http://lesbianclaryfairchilds.tumblr.com)!


End file.
